«To bury her attackers under the rubble and not be hurt…» said Fiona dreamily.«That is magic!»
«But it was too late to learn. If you have drunk the magic book, you cannot go to School of Witchcraft – no one will be admitted! A book is sent as a guide and a pass. There is no messenger. It finds you, like a bird or a ghost. But when you give it to her, you give up everything.»
Rokuela should never have told her about it. It was more delicate to remain silent. In her mind, Fiona scolded herself. She used to live peacefully in the mill. Now there was nowhere to go. A way to the magic school, invisible to Ornella’s guards, would come in handy. It would be the only place to sit out while they looked for you as a witch. And when your graduation date comes, you’ll come out so strong that you’ll demolish the entire state of your enemies in a jiffy.
«I wish you’d warned me sooner,» Fiona sighed. She doesn’t think Ornella will leave a victim behind. They’ll send guards or gryphons after her for sure. She felt sick at the thought of the latter. The clawed jaws alone were worth a scratch a month’s worth of healing. And what would happen if the birds decided to peck her to death.
«You have a gift of some sort, and it’s independent of your training,» Rokuela said. «I just can’t figure out what it is.»
«I can see ghosts,» said Fiona, recalling the Jokers in the ruins.
«Plenty of people can do that without a magic gift.»
«But those ghosts were bright, not your typical ghosts.»
«Were you able to make them serve you? Did they do some kind of thing you asked them to do, or did they do some kind of errand you wanted them to do? Did they drag you into their circle and share your forbidden secrets?»
Fiona shook her head mournfully. She seemed talentless. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea to set ghost jesters to tear Ornella apart. They would have mocked her for a long time before the massacre. They’re jesters.
«Let me see your hands!» Rokuela looked at her palms. «They are all scratched! I’m no chiromancer, but this mark here looks like a line of enrichment… Tell me, are you attracted to gold.»
«Do you mean gold?» Fiona thought about it. She wondered if it was worth mentioning that she was magnetically attracted to it by the sight of golden eagle feathers. It had caused so much trouble, hadn’t it? It was better not to follow the eagle. Then she wouldn’t have met the insensitive Condor, the ravenous princes, and the evil queen.
«Come on!» insisted Rokuela. «Maybe you hear the coins singing, or maybe they jump into your pocket, popping out of other people’s purses. You ought to go around the marketplace and check it out.»
«You shouldn’t! Such talent, even if I have it, will not keep me safe from Ornella’s griffins.»
«But you can make a fortune and hire your own army for protection, and buy your own fortress, which I will shield with magic.»
«I…» Fiona struggled to explain how she’d discovered the mound beneath the ruins. «I seem to be attracted only to the gold that is buried in the ground. I see a halo of glow where it’s buried. It happened to me once or twice by happy coincidence. Or maybe the ghosts of the ruins told me…»
«You are a treasure hunter!» Rokuela rejoiced. «It is a good gift, but you cannot do without helpers. The gold is often buried too deep for you to retrieve it by yourself. There is magic that makes the earth part. If you had learned it in magic school, you could have got the treasure even from the bottom of the sea.»
«Don’t remind me how much I’ve lost by not going to school! Or I’ll burst into tears!»
«Don’t grieve! I guess your talent wasn’t so great that you didn’t figure out the book’s purpose. Ornella probably only clung to you because of the prophecy about the redheads.»
«What was the prophecy?» Fiona only now noticed that one blue morialla was perched imposingly on top of the flooded fireplace.
«She’s not a spy,» Rokuela nodded at the bird. «So, about the redheads… It is a delicate subject! There is a prophecy that the Sultanit’s dynasty will be massacred by a single ginger-haired girl. She can be identified by her freckles and her ability to communicate with the souls of the dead.»
«You mean ghosts?» Fiona remembered the jesters and the corpses in the carriage. She had communicated with the latter. She didn’t imagine it.
«Does communicating with dead people in dreams count, too?»
«Well, if they’re frequent dreams…»
«What if I only dreamt about the dead woman who warned me of danger once?»
«Then it might just have been a prophetic dream. Many people have such dreams when they’re in danger. And you were about to be executed.»
«It is ridiculous! Her hair is like fire, but she would have died in the fire,» the horned skull of a morgen’s muttered as he lay across the table and laughed gruffly.
«Shut up!» Rokuela hissed at him and explained. «That’s my counselor.»
She had a magic fish, a man-each minute changing the color of its scales, a man-shell that sang beautifully, and a strange jelly-fish-like creature that swept the floor with its tentacles.
It was the shell that Fiona liked best. It had such a sweet-sounding singing voice, as if a siren had been imprisoned inside.
«You’ll have to stay here with me and my pets,» she concluded when she heard the sound of huge wings rustling through the rain.»
«Wouldn’t it be better if I went back to the mill? I don’t want to embarrass you.»
In fact she was frightened. A hedge of live jellyfish, morgens’ skulls, and mermaid’s bones would impress anyone. And then there’s the creature in the fire tank!
«Ornella will find you at the mill. Griffons never let their victims go, and their brides won’t be let go by sea magic.»
«Are griffons sea birds?»
«All birds that are capable of flying across the sea can be categorized as sea birds. They have settled by the sea.»
She’s right about that. Ornella and her brothers’ castle stands at the edge of the surf. It’s like a rock rising out of the coastal waves. That’s no coincidence.
«You already know there’s a terrible curse on the whole Sultanit’s dynasty,» Rokuela said, as if she’d just remembered it now. She clutched the amulet of feathers and shells tightly in her hands. The feathers seemed to be eagle feathers.
«They were now only half human and half griffin. And every bride or groom chosen by the children of the cursed Sultanit’s King will also be forced to turn into a griffin. It is fate that will decide whether they die in the first transformation or become accustomed to the plumage of a bird.»
The drumbeat of rain became as unpleasant as if needles had been pricked into their ears. Fiona somehow wasn’t surprised or questioning the sea witch’s words. Ornella had mentioned werewolves for a reason. Nor was the game of clawed tomboys a coincidence.
«So all birds could turn into griffins? Can Condor, too?»
It didn’t surprise Rokuela that Fiona was interested in the most handsome of princes.
«He is the only one who is an innocent victim. Only half of the Sultan’s blood is in him, but he has become so accustomed to the guise of the golden eagle that he himself has become a predator.»
The golden eagle is him! That’s why she was so infatuated with him that she climbed into the cave! Condor’s charm was undeniable. No matter what form he took, he could charm a girl’s heart out of anything.
«Werewolves are not a fairy tale,» Rokuela interpreted her grief in her own way. «You may not believe a man can turn into a wolf or a bird of prey with claws of steel, but you can’t ignore the power of a curse.»
«I’m afraid that for bad people, the curse can be a blessing. If Ornella manages to turn into a bird of prey, she will tear everyone apart.»
«She can,» Rokuela dumbfounded her. – All of the king’s children can turn into birds. In addition, they all develop some sort of magical gift. The Condor, for instance, can understand what the wind reports. He can also easily translate the speech of the spirits of rain, fire, and even snow and ice. He is the most gifted of the royal family.»
«And he is the most evil!»
«Conrad is not evil! He just doesn’t want anyone else to be victimized, so he doesn’t greet anyone. I bet he tried to chase you away when you snuck into the eagle’s nest.»
«Did he call you here to get me away from the eagle princes forever?» Fiona guessed. That’s hardly a sign of kindness. It’s more likely that Condor was afraid his brothers would be attracted to the peasant girl. He and Ornella were on the same side. What two snobs!
